NEWARK, N.J. (April 1, 2015) – The Rutgers-Newark men's volleyball team earned a 3-2 comeback win over fourth-ranked Juniata College Wednesday night in The Golden Dome Arena.
 
With the win Rutgers-Newark improves to 17-8 overall and 9-1 in the Continental Volleyball Conference. Juniata drops to 21-5 overall and 9-1 in the conference with two matches left for each side.
 
A 25-17 defeat in the third set gave the Scarlet Raiders a 2-1 deficit to dig out and dig out they did, taking the fourth set in thrilling fashion (26-24) and doing the same in the fifth (17-15). Juniata won the first set 25-22, with R-N earning a 25-21 win in the second set.
 
The two teams traded points early in the fourth set before the guests took an 8-6 edge. The Scarlet Raiders came right back, tying the score at eight behind a Cody Chidsey kill and an ace from junior Travis Mintzer.
 
Back-and-forth they went with the hosts taking a three-point margin at 14-11 following a Juniata attack error. R-N clinched the fourth to force a fifth and final set with a kill from Chidsey and an Eagle error, sending the large Senior Night crowd into a celebration.
 
The fifth set was absolutely thrilling. After Rutgers-Newark took a 3-1 lead behind two Chidsey kills, Juniata came back to tie it at three-all. The two teams went blow-for-blow as the match was tied at four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 before the Scarlet Raiders scored the final three points to earn the set victory and match win. Staring at a tough loss, Mintzer delivered a kill thanks to a perfect set by junior Kevin McCandless, and after an Eagle error and timeout, Mintzer came through with an ace to end it.
 
Rutgers-Newark hit .263 for the match, but came up huge in sets four and five, turning in hitting percentages of .357 and .476. McCandless delivered 53 assists and Chidsey led the Scarlet Raiders with 19 kills and a hitting percentage of .500. He now has 49 kills in his last three matches. Sophomore Jack Fredricks (14), sophomore Nick Kuti (12) and Mintzer (12) all finished with double figures in kills, while McCandless had 11 digs for a double-double, also adding four block assists to his line. Kuti had six block assists and Mintzer had seven digs as Rutgers-Newark compiled 17 block assists on the night. Leading the defense was junior libero Quocmy Nguyen with 14 digs.
 
Juniata hit .295 for the match, tallying 39 digs, 21 block assists and two block solos. Three Eagles eclipsed double figures in kills with senior Paul Kuhn notching 19.
 
Rutgers-Newark returns to action Friday night at CVC foe Eastern Mennonite University. Match time is slated for 7 p.m.
 
Visit www.RutgersNewark Athletics.com Thursday at 12 p.m. for an announcement regarding the CVC Tournament which will be hosted by Rutgers-Newark.